Read the Large Catechism with me.
Ten-minute studies on short readings from the Large Catechism.
Let's do this.
Click on the link below and read the short assigned reading. Then, if you have time, check out what I have to say about it. If not, no problem. Just soak up the goodness of the LC.
The Lord's Prayer, First Petition: Click here and read 35-48.
The basics:
- Hallowed be Thy name.
- God's name is always holy by nature, but in our use it is not holy. His name was given us in baptism, and everything which is God's must serve for our use.
- His name ought to have its proper honor and be esteemed holy as the greatest sanctuary we have.
- We pray that the name of God may remain holy with us upon earth and in all the world.
- When both our doctrine and life are godly and Christian than His name becomes holy among us.
- God's name is profaned when men preach, teach, and speak in the name of God what is false and misleading, so that His name find a market in falsehood.
- God's name is profaned when men swear, curse, and abuse the holy name as a cover for their shame.
- God's name is profaned when those who are called Christians are adulterers, drunkards, slanderers, etc.
- We pray in the First Petition that what God demands in the Second Commandment will come to fulfillment.
- To hallow is the same as to praise, magnify, and honor both in word and deed.
- Here we learn how great a need there is of this prayer, because we see how full the world is of sects and false teachers, who all wear the holy name as a cover and sham for their doctrines of devils.
- We also have a need for this prayer for ourselves, as we have the Word of God but are not thankful for it, nor live as we ought according to it.
My thoughts today:
My husband and I were talking the other day about the state of the church in this country. There is very little respect for church outside of the ones in the church [and sometimes lacking there as well, but that is a whole other topic]. And quite honestly, I understand it.
American Christianity has spiraled into some build-your-own-faith buffet. The options are endless and some make you feel so good when you take them, you just can't turn away from piling it on your plate. On the other hand, some of the best options up there are somewhat bland and uninteresting. Good news is, you don't have to take what you don't want. We are Americans. Don't stand for something that you don't like!
We raise up for ourselves leaders who have eaten from all the selections for so long that we think they are experts on which ones we should choose, too. We hold them up and listen to their words and advice as truth. Except we aren't just talking about our diets and waistlines, here. We are talking about our eternal souls.
So many false teachers and preachers are out in American Christianity because they serve us the best selection on the buffet. As long as they keep serving what smells and tastes the best to our sinful flesh, we will keep bellying up to the bar. Soon our waistlines and our souls are filled with so much junk, we have trouble seeing straight.
And I guess if I try my best to put the best construction on their actions, the truth is they might not know better. They have been fed from that buffet for so long, they don't even know another food exists. They grew up on the buffet and now they just keep serving it to those around them because they have themselves never tasted anything better.
Why would anyone from outside the church have any respect for a group that stands for everything and nothing at the same time? Who is right? Which options are interchangeable? What food must you eat off the buffet to be considered a part of the group? Which foods can you just leave sitting around?
My point is this - false teachers have not made the name of God holy in our world. We, by listening to and esteeming false teachers, have not made the name of God holy in our world. False teachers have deceived us. They have misled us. They have made the church unbelievable. And generally, even when rebuked in the name of Truth, they keep on feeding the same buffet items. We have enough problems hallowing God's name in our own daily lives without the help of such false preachers.
But how are we to know who is a false teacher? As my husband recently stated in a sermon, they don't walk up to the pulpit and yell, "Hey, I'm a false teacher over here!"
Here are just some examples -
Those who teach us the Bible can be changed to fit our culture.
Those who teach us we can do something to get to heaven.
Those who teach us God promises us prosperous lives on this side of eternity.
Those who teach us we are able to be holy just by choosing not to sin.
Those who teach us to question the means by which God has chosen to come to us.
Those who teach us there are more rules for our lives than given in the Bible.
Those who teach us the commandments of God are not culturally applicable.
Those who teach us there are many roads to heaven.
And you know what, chances are we all have moments of doing some of these things. We want to find ways to earn our way to heaven, because we feel better being able to do something about it. We want to believe God has promised us riches and happiness, because that feels a lot better than bearing a cross. We want to believe Baptism is something we choose to do when we are old enough, because we can't understand a faith given by God and able to thrive in an infant. We want to think the laws of God were just cultural to those people back then, because it is better if we can just write our own guidelines.
Hallowed be Thy name. We pray it often, because we need it every minute. We pray it often, because we are drawn to hallowing every other name. We pray it often, because we are marked with His name.
We pray it often, because we are surrounded by false teachers on the outside and false beliefs on the inside. May His holy name be hallowed on earth as it is in heaven.
